Thursday, 15 June 2017

MOTHERS AND INVENTIONS

So
Does Your Mother come from Rome and have been active on the local
scene since 2009. The aim of the band is mixing the complexity of
progressive rock with the simpler rhythms and glamorous atmospheres
of disco music. In 2013, after many line up changes, So Does Your
Mother self released a studio EP entitled Fac(e)ing the Animals
and in 2015, after a long, hard work with producer Marco Molteni, they
finally released their first full length album, Neighbours.
The line up features Lorenzo Sidoti (guitar), Vladimiro Sbacco
(keyboards), Gian Maria Camponeschi (bass), Alessio Zappa (drums),
Francesco Antonini (flute, vocals), Letizia Lenzi (clarinet), Carmine
Di Lauro (sax), Francesca Faraglia (vocals), Domitilla Masi (vocals)
and Maria Onori (vocals) but during the recording session they were
helped also by some guests such as Isaac "Ike" Willis, an
American vocalist and guitarist who was a regular member of Frank
Zappa's studio and touring bands from 1978 to 1988, and vocalist Ghita
Casadei. The artwork by the well-known street artist Mr. Thoms describes in some way the theatrical and ironic musical approach of
the band...

The
opener, "Mitile Milite" is a lively track with surreal
lyrics sung in ancient Latin. It starts softly, with the dark notes
of a clarinet, then the rhythm rises and the mood changes mixing funk
and folksy flute passages à la Jethro Tull. Then comes the sarcastic
"M.D." (festuring the guest Ike Willis) that depicts in music
and words a greedy, unscrupulous manager exploiting new bands
trying to make them play for free.

Next comes "Swallow", a ferocious attack to the distorted
use of social media where everyone can vomit words and trash online while
the suggestive "Modern Seducer" is a surreal portrait of a
stripper man under the lights of a discotheque, a very peculiar
exotic dancer crawling almost naked on the floor for the amusement of
women...

"Under
the Roof" is a tense piece in seventies style. Here the
atmosphere could recall the scene of a thriller film score where
spiders and scorpions are moving under the roof... It leads to the
funny, irreverent funk of "Your Mother". The following "Red
Leaf" is a short, surreal track about the life of a very
peculiar character watching TV on a bumble bee with sax and slapping
bass lines in the forefront. "Modern Seducer Reprise"
closes the album with a different, more relaxed version of the fourth
track.

On
the whole a funny, interesting album where the band showcase good
musicianship and excellent song-writing skills.